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NAME
mcheck, mcheck_check_all, mcheck_pedantic, mprobe - heap consistency checking
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <mcheck.h> int mcheck(void (*abortfunc)(enum mcheck_status mstatus)); int mcheck_pedantic(void (*abortfunc)(enum mcheck_status mstatus)); void mcheck_check_all(void); enum mcheck_status mprobe(void *ptr);
DESCRIPTION
The mcheck() function installs a set of debugging hooks for the malloc(3) family of memory-allocation functions. These hooks cause certain consistency checks to be performed on the state of the heap. The checks can detect application errors such as freeing a block of memory more than once or corrupting the bookkeeping data structures that immediately precede a block of allocated memory. To be effective, the mcheck() function must be called before the first call to malloc(3) or a related function. In cases where this is difficult to ensure, linking the program with -lmcheck inserts an implicit call to mcheck() (with a NULL argument) before the first call to a memory-allocation function. The mcheck_pedantic() function is similar to mcheck(), but performs checks on all allocated blocks whenever one of the memory-allocation functions is called. This can be very slow! The mcheck_check_all() function causes an immediate check on all allocated blocks. This call is effective only if mcheck() is called beforehand. If the system detects an inconsistency in the heap, the caller-supplied function pointed to by abortfunc is invoked with a single argument, mstatus, that indicates what type of inconsistency was detected. If abortfunc is NULL, a default function prints an error message on stderr and calls abort(3). The mprobe() function performs a consistency check on the block of allocated memory pointed to by ptr. The mcheck() function should be called beforehand (otherwise mprobe() returns MCHECK_DISABLED). The following list describes the values returned by mprobe() or passed as the mstatus argument when abortfunc is invoked: MCHECK_DISABLED (mprobe() only) mcheck() was not called before the first memory allocation function was called. Consistency checking is not possible. MCHECK_OK (mprobe() only) No inconsistency detected. MCHECK_HEAD Memory preceding an allocated block was clobbered. MCHECK_TAIL Memory following an allocated block was clobbered. MCHECK_FREE A block of memory was freed twice.
RETURN VALUE
mcheck() and mcheck_pedantic() return 0 on success, or -1 on error.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────────────┐ │Interface │ Attribute │ Value │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────────────┤ │mcheck(), mcheck_pedantic(), mcheck_check_all(), │ Thread safety │ MT-Unsafe race:mcheck │ │mprobe() │ │ const:malloc_hooks │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────────────┘
STANDARDS
GNU.
HISTORY
mcheck_pedantic() mcheck_check_all() glibc 2.2. mcheck() mprobe() glibc 2.0.
NOTES
Linking a program with -lmcheck and using the MALLOC_CHECK_ environment variable (described in mallopt(3)) cause the same kinds of errors to be detected. But, using MALLOC_CHECK_ does not require the application to be relinked.
EXAMPLES
The program below calls mcheck() with a NULL argument and then frees the same block of memory twice. The following shell session demonstrates what happens when running the program: $ ./a.out About to free About to free a second time block freed twice Aborted (core dumped) Program source #include <mcheck.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> int main(void) { char *p; if (mcheck(NULL) != 0) { fprintf(stderr, "mcheck() failed\n"); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } p = malloc(1000); fprintf(stderr, "About to free\n"); free(p); fprintf(stderr, "\nAbout to free a second time\n"); free(p); exit(EXIT_SUCCESS); }
SEE ALSO
malloc(3), mallopt(3), mtrace(3)